Just weeks before he was scheduled to headline UFC Vegas 90, Brendan Allen got the call every fighter dreads: His opponent was out due to injury.
The news came after Allen and that opponent, Marvin Vettori, had traded plenty of shots through interviews and social media, and even more when both appeared at UFC 299.
“It was insane,” Allen told MMA Fighting. “I found out on a Monday that [Vettori] wasn’t going to fight after all the s*** he talked, and all the little obscenities he did over the weekend at the Miami pay-per-view. Found out Monday that he wasn’t going to fight.
“Waited until Wednesday, they told me basically that I can go home. Because I was training, I wanted to go home if I wasn’t going to fight.”
Allen primarily trains out of Kill Cliff MMA in Florida, but he lives with his family in Louisiana. After learning he was no longer fighting, he packed his bags to head home and take advantage of some extra time with his children.
He barely made it onto the airplane when the UFC called again.
“I booked my flight for Thursday,” Allen explained. “I sparred Thursday, I was on my way home, and they called me, and said they were talking about Chris Curtis. We’re like, ‘There’s no win in that for me.’ It’s a lose-lose for me if you think about it. [UFC said,] ‘They already said no, so just go home.’
“I had my other connection to Louisiana. I got to Louisiana, about 20 minutes after that the UFC called, we talked, and that’s what they wanted, so that’s what I did. I booked my flight back to Florida and went back to training.”
As frustrated as he was with the chain of events, Allen couldn’t complain too much, because at least his entire training camp wasn’t wasted.
The downside for Allen is fighting down the rankings again after hoping to face someone higher in the middleweight division. Vettori’s withdrawal ruined those plans. But Allen is keeping a positive attitude about drawing Curtis again, because their previous encounter served as only one of the two losses on his UFC record.
“It was a real roller-coaster, for sure,” Allen said. “Luckily, I stayed dieting and stayed training. It was good to come home for two days, reset and see my kids. It was alright, it was good. It sucks, because it’s always some bulls*** that’s beyond my control, beyond the UFC’s control. Someone else that I’m fighting is the problem. Everyone is like, ‘I’m hurt.’ Well, I’m hurt too. I fought hurt. I’ve never pulled out of a fight. My leg would have to be hanging off the other half of it, cut in half for me to pull out. It’s just crazy.
“It’s beyond my control. Between not having the opportunities to really move up, and not having the followers, it’s the main reason I don’t have a title shot right now. Because if it was skill-based, I really feel I would be the champion. But I think it’s obviously about who can put asses in the seats and who gets the bigger opportunities. It is what it is.”
Allen also responded to Vettori’s fiery message after the one-time UFC title challenger dropped out of their scheduled matchup.
In a video posted to social media, Vettori promised, “I’ll smash your face just because you look funny to me,” and added, “I’ll see you soon.”
“If you don’t make it to the war, you can’t have a possibility to win the war,” Allen said in response. “He had an option to fight me last year, he didn’t take it. He pulled out this time. Two strikes, you’re out. That’s game over. We’ll see. Everybody saw his little video. He’s in Vegas right now. We’ll see. It’s that simple to me.
“The dude is just delusional. He’s irrational. You can’t have any kind of rational conversation with someone who is delusional and irrational. It’s literally impossible. At this point, there’s literally nothing to talk about. I signed the contract to fight. I’m just fighting somebody else. If he lives up to the word in his video, we’ll see [this weekend]. Maybe we’ll have two fights in Vegas. I don’t care. I won’t say a word. I won’t go out of my way, but if it comes to me, I’m not a b****. We’re going to find out. That’s how I view it.”
When it comes to the rematch with Curtis this weekend, Allen doesn’t have a bad word to say about his veteran foe. But this rematch is definitely more about revenge than rankings. Allen is unbeaten in six straight since falling to Curtis back in 2021, while Curtis hasn’t been as fortunate, earning a 2-2 record with one no-contest over his past five outings.
“Honestly, the only thing I get out of it is I’ll get paid and hopefully I’ll get the revenge,” Allen said. “That’s really the only two things that can come out of it, in my eyes. Hopefully the UFC sees the things that I’m doing and keep getting taken away from me. Hopefully I get something good from it.
“We saw Sean [Strickland] get a title shot at No. 6 after beating an unranked guy. Hopefully, if I can go out there and finish Chris, I can go right into fighting Sean next or fighting the champion. That would be the best-case scenario — a title shot. The second best-case scenario would getting Sean.”
